An empowered civil society is a crucial component of any democratic system. By articulating citizens’ concerns and taking stock of societal changes, civil society organisations – including national, local, community-based, gender and women focused, research oriented – are active in the public arena, engaging in initiatives to advance a participatory democracy. CSOs contribute to good governance by demanding and contributing to more accountable and legitimate states, leading to enhanced social cohesion and stronger democracies.
The EU is a long-standing partner of civil society in Armenia and as a leading donor the EU has supported the work of CSOs through thematic and bilateral programmes.
In this context, the EU has launched a new call for project proposals “Strengthening civil society capacities and resilience in Armenia through promotion of democratic engagement principles and strategic communication“.
The global objective of this call is to further enhance the capacity and resilience of civil society organisations to be effective, sustainable and accountable independent actors that contribute to deepening democracy, citizens’ awareness and empowerment.
The specific objectives of this call is to provide targeted capacity building to CSOs to:
- strengthen CSO management skills and transformational leadership including strategic planning, internal democracy/self-governance principles, transparency, sustainability and resilience to reinforce CSOs as trusted and professional partners;
- explore, test and promote tools and practices of more strategic communication methods and resources incl. information management and flows towards citizens, particular constituencies and at community, Marz and national level including critical thinking, technical incl. financial literacy and preventing/reducing, detecting and actively fight disinformation;
- support CSOs in their agenda to professionalise volunteering in Armenia and engage closer with other stakeholders e.g in more collaborative approaches with other CS actors, academia, the private sector, youth such as volunteers and launch joint advocacy and learning initiatives incl. in an inclusive and empowering manner and communicate aspirations;.
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- minimum amount: EUR 1,950,000
- maximum amount: EUR 2,000,000
The deadline for submitting project proposals is 03.11.2020,14:00 (Brussels date and time).
More details can be found here: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?ADSSChck=1598450619805&do=publi.detPUB&searchtype=QS&orderby=upd&orderbyad=Desc&nbPubliList=15&page=1&aoref=169937 .
